Wednesday, July 11, 2007

I am all done with my surgery. My guesstimate is that it took almost all of 10 minutes for the whole procedure (15 minutes at the outside maximum but that is probably stretching it) from when the doctor started prepping me, until he had me sewed up. Basically, he removed a tumor about the size of a garbanzo bean, which was about the size I had figured it to be. It was pretty neat thing to see, though I could not really watch him take it out, I could see the doc working on me when I looked down over my chest; and he showed me the little booger once he had it removed. A painless surgery, I only wish my teeth cleaning at the dentist yesterday had been as painless. He, his nurse, and I had a few good laughs as the procedure went on; I figured I may as well have a positive attitude about it all. Now I have to wait till next week, when I see the doc for a followup, to get the results of the biopsy, though I will say he believes it to be a benign lipoma - a fatty tumor. I have got to admit though, it sounds too much like lymphoma each time I hear that word. Time to lose some of that body fat if these things are one of the results.All the best,Glenn B

...are subjects that pop up in my mind now and again. I am, of course, a firearms enthusiast. Yet I am not much of a buff when it comes to firearms in history. Heck, I would rather shoot em that study them; yet I am curious about some of their history. In addition,even though I am not a true general buff, I also enjoy finding out things about history, especially about U.S. history. Now I am about to tell you all about an event that took place on July 11, 1804, and it involves both guns, and U.S. history. It is an event of which every U.S. Citizen should be aware, at least any of us who went through grammar school and paid any attention at all; but my bet is that most people do not know when it happened, or why it happened.The event was the duel between Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton. (The photo is supposedly of the actual pistols used in that duel.) This duel took place in Weehawken, NJ despite the fact that both participants were were New Yorkers, and the transgression that led to the duel was a matter relative to New York. My guess is that New York was even so liberal enough back then to have some kind of anti-gun or anti-dueling ordinance, so these guys went to NJ to get the deed done. That is not all that relevant though to the point that they actually were involved in a duel over honor. Can you imagine that. Heck, if you so much as push someone today you would be arrested for something like assault or battery; and how many Americans even care to defend their honor today let alone defend their own country and no I am not belittling anyone in our military, but rather I am belittling those cry baby leftists who pee in their pants over even the thought of aggression or violence to solve a problem).Do you know why they dueled? Do you know if both fired their weapons? Do you know the intent of each man during the duel? Do you know if either man was killed or wounded? Do you know who won the duel? Do you know what happened to each man after the duel? Do you know if either man was ever an elected official or political leader? If you are at all interested, here is a link to a brief rundown on the subject:

Read the whole Wikipedia depiction, it is fascinating, especially with regard to the mindset of the people back then.

In addition, for the true history buff, or firearms enthusiast, here is a link to an article that suggests that Hamilton (long suspected honorable guy) and Burr (long suspected dishonorable guy) may have actually had opposite roles in this duel:

Very interesting stuff, to debunk a possible myth about the character of each man, for both the history buff and the firearms enthusiast. The hypothesis in this article is supported by an investigation of facts as opposed to being supported only by anecdotal evidence from friends who attended the duel. I love it. Were they very different than we are today? Make up your own mind on that point; but rest assured that dueling over such an important thing as honor was part of life back then; and while I do not necessarily advocate dueling today, we should not rule out violence as a proper means, of an ordinary man, to reach a worthy end.

...can probably be a trumatic event for many, but I am looking forward to going under today. I will have a small lump removed from my chest in an outpatient surgery. I am hoping they let me watch and set up a mirror for me to do so. I was always the curious type about such things, and was the same even when I had some serious surgeries in times past.

Depending on how I feel after the surgery today, I will either blog or not blog later on. I figure it is no big deal and will not cause much after-surgery pain, so I'll probably blog. Of course if a biopsy gives bad news which I do not expect, then it will have been a bigger deal than I am anticipating; but I am hopeful.

...big ones at that, and all filled with helium. Kent Couchamazes me, I think he has truly big balls (multi colored ones at that); and I think he has a lot of chutzpah, is probably at least a bit of a nut job, is pretty intelligent, is methodical, is daring and overall is a true adventurer. I say so because adventurers have the qualities I just mentioned; otherwise they would never go on an adventure in the first place, and believe me he just went on an adventure. I admire him without even knowing him! I have to admit, there was a time, when I weighed less, that I had a fleeting thought of doing something similar but mine were not as big, or as colorful, as were his.

Just look at the picture at the above link, and then try to imagine even half of the thrill, and other feelings, he felt as he soared among the lower environs of the heavens. It must have been absolutely magnificent. Outstanding!All the best,Glenn B

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